


The Doctor and the Silver Millennium

by WritesOnCoffee



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga), Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Buff!Makoto, Chubby!Usagi, Crossover, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Silver Millennium Era, Time Travel, Tragic Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-10 02:43:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12902247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritesOnCoffee/pseuds/WritesOnCoffee
Summary: After the TARDIS crashes at the Space-Time Gates, The Doctor requires the aid of the Silver Crystal to fix his little blue box, or else the whole machine will explode. However, upon arriving, he finds a world on the brink of war. Should he try to help, he risks the decimation of untold futures. What will the Doctor's arrival change in the world of Usagi Tsukino...?Expected to update every Sunday and Wednesday (until it's over)





	1. The TARDIS Crashes

Few can stand at the Space-Time Gates without losing their senses. The rush of random memories from a past millennium or visions of futures that may never come would drive any casual observer mad after gazing in the threshold for more than a moment or two.

And that was assuming their casual glance did not cast their visual net over the expanse of an infinite universe with infinite possibilities.

Because of this, only a single woman could stand guard. A single sentinel with long green hair bound in a ponytail, tanned-olive skin, and a garnet-core staff that could weave the current of time.

Sailor Pluto had long since resigned herself to loneliness. She had learned, after an infinite amount of time in a multitude of time lines, that she was stuck here forever. At first, she had felt a sense of dread. Of existential emptiness. Was this her life? This what she had to expect? Was this it?

But soon, that dread had melted away into resignation. And then an almost lobotomized serenity. She had learned to stare at the passing of time without feeling. It was the only way to remain sane in the face of untold servitude.

Ever since the start of Moon Kingdom, Ever since the first Queen of the Moon discovered the Space-Time Gates and set the eager Setsuna to man the gates, she had stood guard. “If we don't position a sentry, any enemy of the Moon Kingdom can come and destabilize our hold of the solar system,” the first queen had said.

At first, brave souls had visited her. The queen and her Guardians, for example, but, with each passing century, the Silver Millennium continued, and fewer ever attended her.

Come the fall of the Moon Kingdom at the hands of Queen Metalia, the Earth Queen Beryl, and her armies under the command of her Four Generals, everyone forgot that Sailor Pluto even existed.

And so she had existed, living through every possible future, all of which she had been forgotten.

Total isolation.

So when she heard the sound of something grinding against the time stream, Pluto went still. She could feel vibrations and distortions in space-time. Her staff vibrated between her fingers.

Through the clouds of the infinite expanse, she saw a blue box, spinning and spiraling its way nearer. One swing of the staff conjured binds of violet energy from the hollow mists of time. They gathered around the box, coiling around its corners and bulk. Even as it tried to slip through her grasp, Pluto's enchantments tightened their grip.

Until, finally, the blue box slowed.

No longer able to spin, the blue box tumbled through the air until it smashed into the platform upon which Pluto guarded the Gate.

Pluto, however, did not lower her staff.

The box had a door, which meant there had to be someone inside of it, steering the device. She took a stance by that door, holding her staff out by the threshold. Fear had gripped hold of her heart. Any number of things could slither out of that door. She had been assigned by the First Moon Queen to guard this door from any threat to the Silver Millennium.

Any threat.

The door swung open, and out tumbled a figure with—it looked like a man, actually. A human man, without anything particularly stunning or odd at all, save for over-ruffled brown hair. He wore a brown coat over a blue, button-down vest—or was that a button-down shirt? Either the case, it was tucked into blue, silk pants. A smart get-up.

And, quite honestly, being the first human being she had seen in the flesh for an eternity—Pluto was shamed to admit, but she felt a distinct urge to touch the man. Not with the garnet core of her staff, but with her hand. Skin-to-skin contact. The urge fizzled to life in her belly, but she suppressed it with the grim resolve that had kept her standing guard all these years.

“Stop whatever it is you're doing.”

The stranger cocked his head, a half-amused grin on his face. “Well, this certainly isn't Ancient Rome, is it? What are you? Able to live here in the time-stream? Not the sort of thing I'd expect. Exposure to all this time energy should kill ya. How're you—well, how am I—?”

“Enough talking.” Judging by his foreign accent, he seemed to be a British person, but, at the same time, something about him seemed otherworldly. “You're a foreigner to our world.”

“Foreigner? Maybe. I travel a lot. Travel to all sorts of places, but never here. Where are we, exactly?” The man had now stepped out of his machine—which, with one casual glance, Pluto could confirmed contained a room far too expansive to fit in that tiny little box. Was that machine a distortion of space-time itself?

Were there other gates in this stream from which strangers could just come and go? And she had never spotted them in all her time standing guard? The thought of it made her head spin.

“I'm the Doctor, by the way,” the stranger said.

“A doctor of what?”

“Of what? Well, a little adventuring, a little traveling—whole bunch of things, really. But right now? I'm in the practice of going around, seeing weird things. I admit, not the most unique practice, but—”

“You like talking.” 

“You're a fairly observant one, aren't you?” The Doctor smirked again. “Maybe you can tell me how someone like you could stop my TARDIS full stop.”

“Is that the name of your machine?”

“Actually, it's just a shortened acronym. Whole name is actually Time and Relative Dimension in Space. I admit, though, that's quite a mouthful. TARDIS also rolls off the tongue just right, don't it? Catchy.”

Pluto had only known this person for minutes, and already felt a headache from all the talking. The silent echoes of the Space-Time Gate had been oddly soothing, but this voice—too much stimulation from someone far too close. 

“Right. I can tell you aren't a threat to the Kingdom. Leave now, and I'll spare you your life.” Pluto turned the garnet core of her staff on the Doctor, who scrambled backward at the sight of it. “Hesitate, and risk the wrath of the Guardian of Time herself.”

“You wouldn't want to do that.” The Doctor reached into his vest. “I have an instrument in my jacket. One that has caused entire empires to be undone. One that—”

“Dead Scream.”

A single enchantment. A single curse.

A single spell.

A bombardment of energy swirled from the garnet core of the staff. It slammed into the Doctor, sending him flying out into the misty distance of infinity, right up to the edge of the floating platform. That thing he held in his pocket tumbled from his fingers. At once, Sailor Pluto dove for it, rolling into a ball, and snatching it before it even hit the floor.

“What is this thing?” Pluto examined the instrument in her hand.

“That is a Sonic Screwdriver.”

Pluto gazed at the instrument, face falling. “You were threatening me with a screwdriver?”

“Well, maybe that was half a bluff, really. Maybe not my best plan, really.” The Doctor eased himself up, clutching his chest. “Surprised you didn't break a rib.”

“I held back a considerable amount.” Pluto threw the screwdriver back at the Doctor, who caught the instrument. “Now leave before I get annoyed.”

“Yeah, about that. Problem there, I think.” The Doctor turned back to the TARDIS. “I admit, I passed through your place here by complete happenstance. But you did quite a number on my machine. The gears are all mushed up. A lot of repairs can be done organically by the device, but I need an energy source. An external energy source. A strong one.”

Pluto's eyes narrowed. “Or what?”

“Well, immediately nothing. I'd be stuck here, and you'd probably get to blast me with that staff of yours a bit more. Send me flying. Maybe actually break my bones or two hearts. But the TARDIS would remain here. It'll sit there, cracking on the inside more and more. Maybe nothing will happen yet, but give it a hundred years or so, it'll crumble apart. You did a serious number on it, and, once that thing goes? It's gonna do a serious number to that Gate you're guarding...and everything that lies beyond it.”

“This gate guards every instance of Space-Time in my world.” Should that thing blow, and if it had the concentrated power to break through dimensional barriers, the explosion could fry every instance to ever occur in her world.

Sailor Pluto gazed out at the barrier. The knot in her chest burned harder. She felt so many things in so short a period of time. She hated that Doctor for coming here. His presence only served to remind her how alone she truly was.

“I know an energy source. And I can open the Gates for you.” Sailor Pluto turned the staff on the gates, and, immediately, the threshold radiated. A door in time and space opened, one that left ripples in the infinite, wispy expanse of her time hall. “Go to the Silver Millennium. The Moon Kingdom.”

“Moon Kingdom? Your society has colonized the Moon? Afraid I need something stronger than a little terraforming engine or—”

“It's hardly just an engine. I'm sending you to meet with Queen Serenity herself. Ask for the Silver Crystal. It contains enough power to obliterate a whole planet, and that's if it's held in the hands of a mere mortal. But you, I can tell, contain much power within you. It'll reanimate your machine, and send you as far away from us as possible. Take that to your own universe. Ours has enough burdens without it.”

The Doctor gazed at the portal. “If this crystal is that strong, it should do the job enough. Just promise me to open the Gate for me to return. You don't want this TARDIS blowing up, do you? Nasty situation if it does.”

“Go. Now.” Something about the situation made Sailor Pluto start tearing up. The prospect of isolation renewed—it left her feeling cold and hopeless once more.

The Doctor seemed to understand, as he nodded, and took a step forward into the gate. He passed the threshold, disappearing into the past, and then—

Sailor Pluto let her staff fall. The gate closed behind him, and, once more, Sailor Pluto stood alone at the Space-Time Gates.

And her isolation felt all the more potent now that she had to say farewell to her first guest in a thousand years.


	2. Arrival on the Moon Kingdom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor has arrived in a strange, new land, but one does not simply walk up and take the Silver Crystal...

Wading through the gate left the Doctor in familiar territory. Usually, he could determine the passing of time when the TARDIS's walls grinded against the time stream. Part of him was aware that, having stolen the device without so much as reading the instruction manual for it, he never had complete control of it. Even coming here had been quite a mess.

He had been bouncing between worlds without any real aim. He hadn't had much of a destination in mind since leaving Rose with his counterpart on that other-worldly shore. Part of him knew that a mortal version of himself was happy with her. Part of him knew that Rose would grow old with this other-him, a duplicate in every way.

But that other him? Another person. Another reincarnation of himself. He'd never wake up under the blankets with her. Never rest a hand on her torso as they laid side-by-side. Never felt her lips against the underside of his jaw or neck. Never felt her lips stroke his collarbone as nails coursed down his chest. Never—

And then there was Donna. The TARDIS had grown quiet without her sass and commentary. He could always count on Donna to liven the mood. The gravest of situations always seemed less dire with her around, but now, even if the Doctor were to walk right up to her door, she'd have no memory of him. None.

At least Rose remembered him. She had someone like him. But to Donna, the Doctor was worse than dead. He was erased. Any mark he had left on her person had been swept like sandcastles to the tide. Gone. Nothing.

At least dead people left graves.

He had lost people who mattered before. This was no different. Travelers like him should be used to the concept of people coming and going from his life. Especially people who matter. He'd lose countless people in the future, just as he lost countless to the past.

He always knew how to lose track of grief in the pursuit of an adventure, of some quagmire to solve. So he had been traveling from world to world to find a problem of sufficient difficulty to occupy him. 

Part of him was certain that the TARDIS had brought him here on her own volition. 

But why? He hadn't the foggiest idea...unless the TARDIS had grown wise to his pursuits for some new adventure. Unless the TARDIS had led him here to give him that perfect problem to solve.

He had to admit. Not knowing what lied beyond the gate made him a little giddy. He had seen it all in his world, but some other world? Some other time?

Now that was something worth experiencing.

The Space-Time Gate seemed to stretch for a mile and then some, yet, only a few steps into it, he emerged out the other end in a marble hall. Columns of the same material held up an arching ceiling, adorned with mosaic artwork of cosmic deities juggling planets in their hands. “Style looks like Earth's ancient Greek architecture. Maybe the Hellenistic period, but maybe something—”

Who was he talking to? Rose? Donna? Martha, even?

Or had he just gotten used to the sound of his own voice?

“At least my voice is a nice one. Not gruff or gravely like I gargled liquified sandpaper.” He laughed at that stupid comment, but soon the chuckle died, and silence greeted him once more.

He took a few paces down the hall until he came to a broad window. He had to stop and stare at the expanse before him. Whoever had colonized the moon had installed artificial gravity devices to keep the population and their architecture rooted to the ground. Buildings and pools stretched along the expanse of solid white surface. Must've installed an artificial gravity bubble here, too, seeing as how the air was breathable.

And at the horizon, lower half veiled in shadow, sat the Earth. A beautiful blue ball just within reach. Holding a hand out, the Doctor felt he could just snatch it out of the night sky.

“Pure energy holding this place together. Pretty incredible. Wonder if it's that Silver Crystal doing this..” Again. Talking to himself.

He would have shrugged off this instant of talking to himself, but froze instead, immediately tense, when he heard someone's boot scuffle on the marble floor. Someone stood behind him—a few dozen meters, maybe, but no more.

He was no longer alone.

He spun, hand half in his jacket. He didn't know what purpose the Sonic Screwdriver would serve, but perhaps the implication of a concealed weapon would be enough to startle the newcomer.

He turned to face a girl with blue hair. Her hair looked naturally blue—not dyed or anything. Perhaps humans living off-world had mutated their pigmentation or something. In any event, the girl was a lovely thing—small and petite, with large, expressive eyes. Couldn't be older than sixteen, if even that.

“Well, what're you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” The girl wore a blue gown of some sort, one that hugged her narrow figure. She took a step, then two, hands folded behind her back.

The Doctor hesitated, then asked, “By any chance, you wouldn't happen to know where the Silver Crystal is.”

The blue-haired girl hesitated. “Why do you want to know?”

“Well, this woman who existed outside space-time told me it could help me fix up my ship. That and I'm in a bit of a hurry. Universe to see. Worlds to explore. Not exactly from around here, see.”

“I see.” The stranger smiled. “Well, if you come with me, I can guide you right to the Silver Crystal.”

“Oh. Awfully polite of you.” The Doctor, smiling, reached into his jacket, and slipped the Sonic Screwdriver up his sleeve. He played the gesture off as him scratching his breast. The stranger, despite the pleasant smile on her lips, never took her eyes of his hand.

As expected.

They strolled down the hallway, side by side. The hall was less a hall in the traditional sense, and more a marble ceiling held up by rows of columns, leaving a garden of flowers by an artificial lakeside exposed for the Doctor's viewing. The flowers sparkled like crystals. “This place is a marvel, it is. Look at that! Enriched soil this early in your species's existence. Imagine what you'll accomplish in a thousand years from now.”

The stranger smiled. “I admit. Much of the terraforming of the planets is thanks to my family.”

“Yours? Really?” The Doctor grinned. “Are you an terraforming engineer?”

“More like I have a general interest in the sciences. I've always been fascinated with the process. All the little details. The numbers, the calculations.”

“I can see we're both kindred spirits. Shame you don't trust me.”

“No, I completely trust you.” They passed out of the hallway into a large chamber. The stranger opened the door—

And revealed a row of armored guards, spears and swords pointed at The Doctor's face.

“I trust you are one of Queen Beryl's assassins.”

The Doctor turned to depart, only to be greeted by a second half-circle of guards standing in the hallway, weaving through the columns with weapons drawn. Another woman—armored as well—stood in the center. A broad shouldered woman with thick, corded muscles. She crossed her arms over her bust. For a girl her age, she stood quite tall. Not taller than the Doctor or even Pluto, but tall all the same.

“I dare you. Take another step. See how that ends up for you,” the newcomer said.

“Jupiter, don't worry. I have this.” The blue-haired girl weaved her hand through the air. Immediately, the air became quite moist and humid. All that moisture coalesced around the Doctor's wrists, binding them in shackles made of water.

One jerk of the blue-haired girl's hand shook the fetters around the Doctor's wrists. From his sleeve tumbled the Sonic Screwdriver.

The blue-haired plucked it up, and examined it from all sides. “Interesting device. Not a weapon, but a disruptor of some sorts. A sound-based one?”

“A Sonic Screwdriver, yes.”

“Were you hoping to use this to counter-balance my enchantments?”

“Well, I didn't know what you were planning, but I always like to be prepared for the worst scenarios here. Especially with your people being so skilled at science—oh, I'm sorry—skilled at magic. Clearly, this world runs on a different set of rules than the one I'm used to.”

“Mercury, be careful,” Jupiter shouted. The guards, upon hearing their commander, closed in with their weapons. “He's from another world.”

“I know. I saw him pass through the Space-Time Gate, which shows he must've slipped past Pluto.”

“You don't understand the situation. Pluto let me pass. I need to see the Silver Crystal. The fate of your world depends on it,” the Doctor started to say, only to go quiet when the aquatic fetters tightened abruptly. His wrists could've broken if the pressure had even been a micro-unit more intense.

Mercury smiled, a satisfied, almost relieved, smile on her lips. “If your intentions are as pure as you claim, then Queen Serenity will grant you what you want. But if either the Queen or Princess deem you unworthy, you will have to face Venus's wrath. Or, worse, since you're an outsider to our system, the Outer Guardians may have a word with you. And, trust me, you don't want to get Uranus angry.”

“Or Saturn,” Jupiter added.

Mercury seemed to shudder at the mention of this Saturn. “So all you people are named after the planets you stand guard at? Curious. I didn't believe people of this era knew of the existence of planets beyond Saturn. This time-line truly is advanced.”

“What're you talking about?” Jupiter asked, but Mercury only seemed to wear an expression of intrigue. She leaned forward, finger on her chin, almost visibly salivating for information. 

“You're a traveler from beyond our time, aren't you? That is truly something incredible. But it is not for me to decide your fate. That's Queen Serenity's job.”

With that, Mercury wove her hand through the air, and conjured a chain of water. It ensnared the shackles, blending into the links seamlessly. One jerking pull dragged the Doctor on. The guards, led by Jupiter, stood at the ready. No point moving, or else that angry girl with the thick brown hair might get her knuckles dirtied in his flesh.

They dragged the Doctor by those fetters to a large hall. Beautiful tapestries of the celestial bodies dangled from archways leading to a seemingly infinite number of branching hallways. The hallway ended opposite the Doctor with a series of thrones perched atop an alter. Stairs at least a story high divided the commoners from the woman seated atop the throne.

A woman with pewter white hair bound in dual buns and ponytails. A lean monarch, this queen held herself with dignity before the newcomers. She held a staff in one fist, one that rose high above all with its crescent shaped head.

Dead center in that crescent sat the Silver Crystal.

“Ah. That wouldn't happen to be the Silver Crystal, would it?” The Doctor asked. In response, Mercury tightened the fetters around his wrists with a mere gesture. He stopped talking when the very real possibility of his hand falling off again made itself clear.

The Queen gazed down at The Doctor, only to whisper, after a moment of gazing. “Why did you bring this man before me?”

Jupiter went to talk first, but relinquished the honors to Mercury as she kept a stern watch over their prisoner. “Noble Queen Serenity, we found this stranger near the Space-Time Gate. We believe—and he claims as much—that he passed through Pluto's guard from another time.”

The Queen regarded this. “Do you believe he slipped past with Pluto's permission?”

“I cannot say. I don't know enough to make a firm judgment on that matter.”

Queen Serenity nodded, and considered the matter in silence for a whole five seconds. Each second ticked by. The Doctor at one point glanced at the Sonic Screwdriver Mercury held in her fist. As if telling him not to get any ideas, Jupiter cracked her knuckles.

“I will consult Puto on the subject matter. Until then, hold the prisoner below ground.”

“Bellow ground? As in the prison cells?” The Doctor spoke. 

“Yes. As in the prison cells. We have reason to believe you may be an assassin. At least in the dungeons, we will know you will pose no threat to me.”

“Right, well, I just want to make sure you don't forget about me once you put me down there. I can tell you haven't paid Pluto a visit in some time, so I assume you rarely pay that lonely bird a visit.”

“We rarely need to consult Pluto because her Guard on the Space-Time Gate has been marred by no failures.”

“Right, of course. She's a good guard. I get that. You get that. But here's my question: once you put me down in those dungeons of yours, are you just gonna put me aside and forget about me? Out of sight, out of mind, as they say?”

Queen Serenity frowned. “We will do with you as we see fit. If that means leaving you down there to rot until your dying days, then yes.”

“I don't know about you, but I've been alive for some time now. 900 years by my count. And you know what I don't want to see? Your entire world burn because of an avoidable problem you blundered into. Talk to Pluto. She will vouch for me. I swear it.”

Queen Serenity frowned. “Maybe. But you are still going in the dungeons.”

With that, the Queen waved her staff, and the ground opened up beneath the Doctor's feet. He caught one last glimpse of the Guardians, the soldiers, and the Queen's Silver Crystal, before tumbling into the darkness below.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for getting this far! I intend on regularly updating on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday from here on out. If you like what you see so far, please follow me on Tumblr (http://writingonnocoffee.tumblr.com/) or Twitter (AGramuglia).
> 
> If you have any feedback or criticism, please do not hesitate. I want to get better as a writer, and I can't do that without some harsh feedback. Thanks again for getting this far!


	3. The Princess of the Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Serenity learns of the mysterious arrival. Does she believe his stories of a blue box set to blow up?

Few things could occur on the Moon without all others in-tune with its energies picking up on it. Like a spider-web being pulled, all other parties atop the web could sense when something had been disturbed.

And Princess Serenity could sense something had been disturbed.

She had been with Mars in the auditorium. Mars effortlessly strummed a melody from a harp, her fingers working the long strings with perfect timing and perfect skill. On the other hand, Serenity attempted to use the flute. Attempted, of course, because her clumsy fingers kept tumbling over each other to properly cover the holes. Sometimes, she left a little space of air spurt free, while other times her pudgy digits covered multiple holes at once. 

In any event, she ended up tossing the flute in frustration after the seventeenth time it squeaked—though, only when the music stopped did she feel that distortion in the energy fields, so maybe it was good luck in bad luck she broke the flute against the marble floor.

“Yeah, throw the flute. That's a mature reaction for a princess to have,” Mars grumbled.

“I-I mean, yeah, that flute playing was getting frustrating, but didn't you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“Somethings happening in the throne room. Someone's here. Or not here. But something's going on. The energy. The way the halls feel. Something's different.”

Mars stopped strumming, and closed her eyes. Mars had always been in tune with the spiritual planes around them. As a child, she had tracked down a rogue spirit lingering in the corners of her Martian throne chambers. Her parents, then the Guardians of the red planet, had called her foolish for hunting an invisible nothing down the halls, until their young daughter returned with an imprisoned spirit shackled by chains of fire and flame.

So when Mars rose up from her harp, face stern, Princess Serenity knew that something bad had indeed happened.

“I'm picking up on two distinct things. One newcomer is in the dungeons. And another energy—something beyond space and time. Something is shifting. Pulsating.”

Princess Serenity darted at once to the throne room. She had always been a heavy-set woman for her age—curvy and fuller—but only when she had to run anywhere did she feel the burden of her weight hold her back. By the time she reached her mother in the throne room, her round cheeks had turned pink. She leaned her weight on her knees, catching her breath.

Mother turned toward her. Queen Serenity always looked beautiful. Crystal clear eyes, smooth skin and luscious hair. Maybe one day the princess would look half as beautiful as her queen. “You're usually not in this much of a hurry unless there's a meal. What's wrong?”

“Someone—dungeon—did you—?”

Queen Serenity's bemused smile slipped. “So you sensed that? Yes. We captured a prisoner who had come in through the Space-Time Gate. He claims to be a traveler from another world, but the truth is we can't take any of his story at face value.”

“What reason would he have to lie?”

“Presumably none. Which is why I will send you on this special task.”

“M-me?” Princess Serenity pointed at her own chest, feeling stupid the whole while. “But when? I—”

“You didn't have plans tonight, did you?”

The Princess did.

Nights before, the Earth Prince Endymion had once again visited. He took the secret passages from the blue marble on the horizon to her palace. He would appear outside her window, standing on the balcony. She sat up waiting for him, offering him a beverage of the sweetest nectar to refresh him after the long journey over.

Once there, they would talk. About the Earth. About the beautiful oceans. About Beryl and her insidious machinations and grudges that hopefully come to nothing.

About one another.

She ran a hand over her arm. Endymion had squeezed her upper arm nights before, and the memory of the touch left a tingly sensation up her spine. 

But what would mother say if she knew?

“No, nothing. What is it you want”

Endymion would have to wait. The Prince had mentioned time and time again they would have to keep the relationship a secret. “Beryl yearns for my attention,” Endymion said, “Any announcement of me united with you might trigger her wrath, which might cause untold horror for everyone. We can't let our relationship go public. Not until we have a proper counter-strategy to strike down Beryl's assault. To nip the war in the bud.”

Her duty would come first. It was what Endymion would want.

And everyone's lives—mother's included—depended on her playing this game right. 

Game. Nice word for “war.”

Upon mother's instruction, Princess Serenity descended down the stairwell into the dungeons, accompanied by Jupiter, who held a staff of shimmering light in front of her. The armored warrior grinned. “I mean, he thought he was quite clever. Mercury says he pulled some sort of screwdriver at us—whatever that is. Probably a rogue's weapon.”

“Yeah.” Princess Serenity's mind was hardly on this matter. Endymion. Earth. Beryl. Those thoughts occupied her mind. She had kept Venus up to date with everything, but how much did the others know? She had mentioned to Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter that she was afraid of Beryl bringing armies to the moon, but Venus had advised her to keep mum on the fact that Beryl actually had a ready army to send to sack the Silver Millennium's capital city on the Moon.

“If Endymion can handle the problems on his own planet, that's best for us all,” Venus said, “You don't want everyone going to Earth and getting hurt in some war if we can't just find some peaceful solution first, right?”

Jupiter's talking brought her out of her daze. “But I got to say. Prisoner's not bad looking. He's got a handsome jaw if I do say so myself.”

“Oh?” Princess Serenity adored handsome men. Most people looked beautiful to her. She had an urge to touch and be touched by almost every beautiful person she met. The human form was just so alluring. But Endymion remained the only person she craved—needed.

Jupiter stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and gestured toward a cell down a short walk away. Princess Serenity thanked her, before marching toward rows of empty cells. Prisoners were few in the Moon Kingdom. Very few would dare raise a hand to their glorious queen. War might occur on Earth or the other planets, but the Moon was a sanctuary for peace.

And it would remain to be so if Beryl's armies didn't attack the moon.

The man who might've been a spy sat in his cell, glazed over eyes boring into the opposite wall of his cell. Once Princess Serenity approached, the stranger glanced her way, a smile on his face. “Ah! Glad to see a new face. I was starting to get bored out of my mind here.”

Serenity took in this stranger—his sharp facial features, his piercing eyes, his easy posture—and couldn't help but smile. She felt a warmth coming from that man. Mars had always teased she had a strong sense of empathy. “You're always able to see the best in people, aren't you? Maybe it isn't just you're a naive, trusting kid. Maybe you can really sense good in others.”

The Princess had not known the stranger enough to make an accurate judgment, but she had an opinion from the start.”So why did my mother throw you into prison, exactly?”

“Ah! Daughter of the queen? Smart girl. Charming girl. Knew right away you're royalty. So let me explain the situation briefly, since I doubt I made much an impression on the queen.”

“We're in the middle of a tense situation with the Earth. Queen Beryl is—but you don't know about that, do you, if you were found in the Space-Time Gate?”

“I'm afraid I'm from another world entirely, so assume I know nothing. Who's Beryl?”

“A queen from Earth. Fancies an Earth prince named Endymion, and has got it in her head that there's something going on between me and him.” And by that, she mean there was something going on, but she couldn't declare that officially. It would validate the war. Lips pursed, she continued, “So mother has matters on her mind. So let me handle this. I'll make things right.”

The Doctor stared into the Princess's eyes, and smiled. “I believe you.” He eased himself to his full height, and went up to the bars. “I have a big blue box outside the Space-Time Gate. It's gonna explode, destroying your entire reality throughout every period of time, if you don't go to Pluto right away. She will tell you I'm being honest. And she'll tell you I need this Silver Crystal to fix my box. I can go home and out of your hair and time once that happens, alright?”

Princess Serenity nodded. “Seems easy enough. I'll clear this up right away. I promise you that.”

The Doctor smiled. “Fantastic. Knew this would be settled in a jiffy.”

The Princess nodded. “There's too many beautiful things on this world to want it all blown up. Though, if I'm being honest, maybe you can have a little explosion that gets rid of headaches and belly aches.”

“I'm not sure that's how it works. I figure the only way an explosion will fix that is by getting rid of your torso, and, seeing as how you have quite the lovely one, that would be a real shame, wouldn't it?”

The princess laid a hand on her slightly convex belly, before blushing. “Flattery isn't gonna get you anywhere.” The Princess bowed her head. “I'll return in a jiffy. You can count on me.”

“I already do.”

Princess Serenity bounded off. Turning to Jupiter, she said, “I believe him.”

“You do? You're way too trusting. I'm telling you this guy is dangerous.”

“Yes, but if Pluto can vouch for him, I believe him.”

“If.”

Serenity held a hand on Jupiter's shoulder. “Stand guard. Make sure the Queen doesn't execute him before I get back.”

“But Princess, I—” Serenity kissed her cheek, and Jupiter, her face glowing red, went quiet. She saluted the princess, and watched her march off to the Space-Time Gate. Princess Serenity, once at the Gate, pushed open the door, and walked into the spaces between moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. I made Princess Serenity chubby. I personally prefer head canons for the characters that add more diverse body types to the narrative (in case you didn't pick up on it, I made Jupiter a little buffer than her normal canon self). I think it makes the work slightly more interesting if the characters have different character designs (and maybe I'm indirectly trying to counter-act the disappointment I felt when I realized Gert from the Runaways adaptation wasn't chubby).
> 
> I've changed the updating schedule to Sunday and Wednesday, for those of you who care. Mainly because I realized pumping out three chapters a week would lead to a drop in quality, particularly between my job, other writing commitments, and just plain living.
> 
> Please, once again, any and all feedback is appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> I admit this is the first fanfiction I've written in some time. Please, offer feedback to point out any dumb errors I made along the way. As a writer, I am always seeking to improve.
> 
> Thank you for getting this far, and I hope to continue this adventure in the very near future. If you like what you read, be sure to follow me on Tumblr at http://writingonnocoffee.tumblr.com/ or twitter at AGramuglia


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